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12 August 2011

Good Idea / Bad Idea

Recently I've taken to watching the Animaniacs, one of my favorite shows of all time.

I have always enjoyed the short segment, "Good Idea, Bad Idea" and so I thought I might offer one for you today:

Good Idea: Learning your faith from the Church. Bad Idea: Learning the faith from the media.

Admittedly, it isn't as good as the ones on the show, but it does give you a fair idea of what's coming up in this post.

Anti-Catholicism has taken many forms over the centuries and in recent years it seems to have taken its largest form in the sheer laziness to learn accurately what the Catholic Church teaches. This is sometimes seen from Protestants with a more fundamentalist leaning, but perhaps most often from reporters.

Consider this statement from the Toronto Star on the difference between those who are Coptic Orthodox and those who are Roman Catholic:

The differences are slight — they use the same liturgies, though Orthodox Christians differ from Roman Catholics in their belief that the Pope is a human being, not a divine figure — which has meant Coptic Orthodox children most often are sent to Catholic school.

I don't remember being taught that in the seminary, reading it in the Catechism or learning it elsewhere, but if it's printed in a newspaper it must be true, right? Ugh!

This irresponsible reporting may well be the epitomy of sloth; anyone with half a brain knows the Pope is not a divine figure.

The astute Terry Mattingly takes a closer look at the story (which really isn't the one printed).

2 comments:

Excellent! I've used that view of the pope as an example of how people don't understand religions even when tons of practitioners are around them, but classes have doubted anyone actually thinks that. Now I have an example.

I'm also hearing that Egyptian TV had a Christianity expert to explain the London riots a few days ago, and he said that because Christianity doesn't have religious protection for private property, Christian countries are prone to looting and riots.

Please, Lord, a saint!

About Me

Father Daren J. Zehnle, J.C.L., K.C.H.S., a priest of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, serves as Pastor of St. Augustine Parish, Ashland; Director of the Office for Divine Worship and the Catechumenate; Adjutant Judicial Vicar; and as Diocesan Judge for the Diocesan Tribunal.